Day #1 of  Trying to Write This Blog Post: It's evening. The boys are in bed, the to-do list is completely crossed off, the husband is pricing work, and I am just sitting down to the computer with my coffee.

"I just know as soon as I sit down, one of the boys will yell," I say to Eric. I sit down. I drink some coffee. I edit a picture.

Sebastian yells.

Day #2 of Trying to Write This Blog Post: It's afternoon. It's a short to-do list kind of day (after all, does my husband really need more shirts ironed when he still has so many hanging in the closet?). The boys are down for their naps, the ones that they almost always take at the same time, the ones where they sometimes sleep for hours. Sebastian hasn't slept much at all this morning, so he should be ready for a good, long sleep. Alec has already had a very abnormal morning nap, but he was extra grumpy, and he didn't sleep long, and yesterday he napped for almost two and a half hours, so I'm hopeful he'll have at least another hour in him. I grab a fresh cup of coffee and sit down at the computer.

Alec talks. I go tell him to lie down. He keeps talking. I drink some coffee, write some words, upload some pictures. Alec talks. I shush him. I write some more. I delete a picture. Alec talks. I finish my coffee. Alec is still talking.

Sebastian wakes up.

Day #3 of Trying to Write This Blog Post: It's afternoon. The laundry is half-done, the floors are half-swept, the ironing still hasn't been touched, but the boys are both napping, and I have fresh coffee.

Please don't yell, anyone.

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It felt like we'd been talking about going to the beach all summer, and it just wasn't happening. Life has a way of getting so crazy if you let it, and we'd definitely let it. But one evening last week we finally sat down and booked a motel.

Seaside, OR. Long Beach, WA. We were so excited.

After doing what seemed like a multitude of other things on Saturday morning/afternoon, we finally loaded up our copious amounts of suitcases, bags, snacks, towels, and everything else and hit the road. Poor Sebastian had no idea it was even possible to be in a car seat for so long--it was his first long road trip. Alec has been our little travel trooper almost from the beginning, so hopefully he can teach his brother a thing or two. By the time we got to Seaside, Sebastian was howling, and we were so glad we didn't have to drive almost another hour up to Long Beach like we had planned to originally.

Eric had the idea to put Sebastian, along with everything else that would fit, in the stroller so we'd only have to make one trip to take all of our stuff inside. I like traveling with him--he always has the best ideas. Which reminds me, there was that one time we were homeless in Sydney . . . 🙂

But anyway . . . we got checked in, and when we walked into our room, I was so happy--it was just what I'd been hoping for, right down to an ocean view and a fireplace. Alec was so glad to be out of his seat and so excited to be somewhere new that he literally ran from one end of the room to the other, back and forth, for a while. He loved the little balcony outside and would run in and out the glass sliding door. At one point I shut the door without really thinking about it, and here came a little boy running pell-mell right into it. He was a little more careful to make sure it was open after that. The guy at the front desk had specifically told us not to throw anything off of the balcony, but Alec obviously didn't get the memo because by the time our trip was over, he had thrown a bar of soap, his swimming trunks, an info card, and one of his sandals over the edge. Thankfully Eric remembered to retrieve everything but the info card before we left.

I was a little worried about how it would go to have both boys sleeping in the same room, especially since we'd been on a bad-sleep kick for a few nights at home already, but they slept better that night than they had for days. It was wonderful. They must've known we were on vacation and decided to give Dad and Mom a break. 🙂

The next morning we tried out the motel's restaurant, Ocean Bakery Café, and were quite pleased with our choice. We also drank more than our fair share of the coffee they had at the front desk, but hey, they had real creamer!I'm usually fairly good about remembering everything when I pack, but for some reason whenever I pack to go to the Oregon coast, I have the hardest time remembering that we might need jackets. I had packed some for the boys, but none for me and Eric. It was high time to take Alec to the beach, but we first ran in to the mall to see if we could find jackets for ourselves. We came away empty-handed and were glad later that we hadn't bought any because the day turned nice and sunny and warm, just like it should be at the coast.

The other thing I forgot was a warm hat for Sebastian, and his poor little head definitely needed one. I'd brought along a little cap but didn't think that was warm enough, so he ended up wearing Alec's cap, which was even less warm than the little cap that wasn't warm enough, but it helped. 🙂We stuck Sebastian in the stroller and finally headed down to the beach. Alec was so thrilled with the first bit of sand we came to that he stopped to play and didn't want to go any further. He didn't realize the best was yet to come, the best being water. He loves to play in water. In fact, the first water we came to was just some puddles in the sand, and he promptly sat right down in the cold water and started splashing. We can't hardly get him to even go in his little pool at home, but apparently that water was just the thing.

When we got to the actual ocean, there was no stopping him. He ran toward it fearlessly, wearing his little jacket, and a wave came and completely doused him. The fun was all over after that. He shivered in a towel while his daddy tried out the skim board.Sebastian spent his first time on the beach much like he spends the rest of his time--talking to himself, crying, and sleeping.

We didn't stay out long because Alec was cold and Sebastian was hungry, but the beach at Seaside wasn't our final destination anyway. Long Beach had always been the plan, and we, being devious parents who are always looking for ways to get out of putting the boys to sleep, decided to make the drive up to Long Beach right over nap time.

We grabbed lunch at the Ocean Bakery Café before we left, and I told Eric when we were walking away from our very messy table that the waitress would probably be praying we wouldn't eat supper there, too. She did like Sebastian though, so maybe that was enough for her to forgive Alec for all the things he threw on the floor.The boys slept on the way to Long Beach, just like they were supposed to. Interestingly enough, the first time we took Alec to Long Beach was when he was three months old, just like Sebastian going now for the first time. Alec slept the entire time we were on the beach though, and Sebastian very much did not.The three-month-old on the left is Alec, and the three-month-old on the right is Sebastian. 🙂

Long Beach is our favorite beach because you can drive on it for miles, which means you can get away from all the people and basically have your own private beach, minus a few walkers and a few trucks going by from time to time. We had to find a different beach access from the one we normally used because there was a kite festival going on, but with miles of beach to choose from, that wasn't too hard.

Alec was quite pleased to wake up on the beach, and this time we didn't even take him close to the water till we were about ready to leave. A dry, little boy playing in the sand was much happier than the wet, little boy shivering in a towel.I've never been one of those people who just rave about going to the beach, but I was so excited about this trip. It wasn't because of the beach though. It was because we'd finally get to have Eric all to ourselves, for two whole days. No work, no grocery runs, nobody we knew even close enough to call up to do something with. There was nothing to do but hang out, just us and the boys, and it was marvelous.It wouldn't be a trip to Long Beach without at least trying to go to Scooper's on the way out. We went with the youth once, and the line was so long we didn't even go in and just went to Dairy Queen in Astoria instead. The line was long this time as well, but we decided to wait it out.

For some reason I got it in my head that I wanted blue ice cream, preferably bubble gum. We had been planning to share a double-scoop waffle cone, but when Eric heard the flavor I wanted, he decided maybe we should get two separate cones. 🙂 The bubble gum was amazing, although I was disappointed it didn't have actual little balls of bubble gum in it like the ice cream I remembered from when I was little. Alec only wanted to eat my ice cream, not Eric's. 🙂Now you know why they call it Scooper's. 🙂 Somehow I don't think eating an ice cream cone with a spoon is what they had in mind though.When we got back to our motel, two beautiful things were waiting for us: a sunset and Andes mints. Thank You, God, and thank you, Cleaning Lady Maria.

The next morning Eric took Alec down to find some coffee and breakfast while I took care of Sebastian, and he brought me back just the kind of surprise I like. 🙂 As is the saying these days, Ocean Bakery Café for the win.Sebastian and I stayed in the room while Eric took Alec down to the water one last time. I sent him a picture of the boy I had, and he sent me pictures of the boy he had.Just look at that cute little man waiting for his elevator. He'd seen Eric lean against the wall just like that earlier and apparently thought it was the thing to do.

We had to be out of our room by eleven, so we packed everything up and headed out to return the skim board. Alec got another suitcase ride. He's such a little traveler. 🙂We weren't quite ready to call the trip quits and hit the road, so we decided to check out the aquarium just down the beach from our motel. We thought Alec would enjoy it, but we had more fun than he did in the end. There were so many strange things to look at! The best part was feeding the seals though. They would flap their flippers and thump their bellies, trying to get us to throw food at them. On our way home we decided we should make going to Long Beach a yearly tradition.

I'm already excited for next summer. 🙂